


Sigurista

by LynMars79



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Arcanists, Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward, Gen, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-30
Updated: 2018-05-30
Packaged: 2019-05-16 04:17:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14804210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LynMars79/pseuds/LynMars79
Summary: Urianger consults two experts to gauge his riskiest gambit. A prompt response.





	Sigurista

**Author's Note:**

> Sigurista: Someone who makes sure that everything goes as planned; the kind of person who will not act unless he feels sure that the desired result would be obtained.

“Strategy is a tool used to manipulate one’s situation into the desired reality,” K'rhid Tia was fond of saying.

“One must also have a complete understanding of the reality one wishes to obtain,” his student K'lyhia had added.

Urianger could not disagree with such astute observations from such practiced strategists. What he disagreed with was the forty-eight percent chance of success they estimated in his plan.

_“We are of course missing certain variables,”_  K'rhid’s precise handwriting stated in the report sent with their calculations.  _“We understand there are things you cannot disclose, but do be aware that once applied, those variables might adjust our evaluation further out of favor.”_

Urianger leaned back in his chair, pointer fingers steepled together and tapping lightly against his lip as he considered. He spared a glance at K'lyhia’s suggested stratagems, covered in disclaimers to account for the unknown variables–though, she was rather thorough, and in many of her plans, the margin for error was minute, as she adjusted for a myriad of options.

He leaned forward and looked them over again, then opened his own grimoire. He turned to a fresh page and copied the stratagem K'lyhia had considered the  _least_  viable–the one that relied most heavily upon the reactions of the Warrior of Light. The realm’s champion could be reliably predicted to rush into danger, if asked by a trusted comrade or someone needing aid. Beyond that, however, Hydaelyn’s Chosen was a wild card.

To most people, perhaps. Urianger had a few advantages over the average tactician or strategist. And he  _did_  know the variables he could not disclose to his arcanist colleagues.

Only after he had K'lyhia’s stratagem thoroughly copied to the exact detail, did Urianger return to his own notes. Not to the plans he had attempted on his own in the previous pages, but rather adding the data and considering his known variables.

Arbert was a problem, much like their own Warrior.

However, if the young man felt pressed, he would reliably lean upon his comrades–particularly Naillebert. In that case, the Scions would need a means to effectively counter the magus…

Urianger sighed and tapped his pen against the rim of his goggles. He disliked it, but glancing at K'rhid’s notes again– _“There’s at least a twenty percent chance she does you_ actual _harm, having gauged her anger responses”_ –he saw no other option.

He would have to make another ‘slip’ before young Mistress Alisaie. She had to be thoroughly invested in this endeavor, and not hesitate due to the wounds J'rhoomale had dealt her.

(He pushed back his anger at the miqo’te; he had estimated there was not enough poison, and he knew Thancred’s skills too well, Alisaie had been in danger though not mortally, but  _still_ –)

He checked his notes again. He applied the formulas K'lyhia suggested. If all went to plan–and neither Warrior went too far off course…

Urianger’s calculations came to fifty-two percent.

He fell back in his chair. He mentally considered a few more variables, trying to see if he could push that number any higher, but discarded them all. This was the best he was going to get.

The last page of K'rhid’s lengthy report lay open upon the desk. Below the formal treatise he and his student had devised was a shorter, more personal note from the itinerant guildmaster.

_“My friend, I know you said this is purely hypothetical, but I also know you would not leave certain pertinent details out if that were so–not to mention the strangely detailed circumstances. I can say with confidence that you feel certain this is the only course, and I believe you. What I would ask is, are you sure that you can do this?”_

Urianger picked up the report and the discarded strategies and fed them to the fireplace. There could be no evidence one of his assistants might find.

He watched K'rhid’s words curl, blacken, and crumple, before he finally answered them.

“I must.”

**Author's Note:**

> A prompt response from erhwrites/aethernoise on tumblr. I like the Arcanist NPCs, and doing those quests certainly helped me to understand the Scion Arcanists better--particularly Urianger.


End file.
